Safe Haven Bill Signed Into Law: 'Really Help Save Children's Lives'
DENVER (CBS4) - Schools in Colorado teaching sex education will now have to include information about our states Safe Haven law. The law allows parents to leave newborns within 72 hours at fire stations or hospitals, no questions asked.
"This is really important to allow for the great choice of adoption and to make it easier to really help save children's lives and provide a safe way where kids can find a good home," Gov. Jared Polis said at the bill's signing ceremony Monday afternoon.
Sixteen-year-old Halle Burke and her family are supporters of the bill and have been in and out of the state capitol from the moment it was introduced. She was one of Colorado's first Safe Haven babies.
"When I was 2 days old I was abandoned at a fire station by my tummy mummy I like to call her," Burke said.
With her own experience in mind, Burke started speaking out in support of the bill that she says is not well known.
"A lot of my friends and students at my school don't even know what the law is," she said.
On Monday, Burke and her family stood next to Gov. Polis as he signed the bill in to law. She sees the new law as an opportunity to ensure everyone knows about the law and the second chance safe haven can provide.
"I don't even know her name but I thank her every day," she said of her "tummy mummy."
